volleysparkle | nails

It's October and time to prepare for Halloween. Today I have a Halloween nail art look that is slightly more subtle than something like a classic jack-o-lantern.

For the orange base on all the nails (except for the spiderweb nail), I used a bright orange, Nailtini Mai Tai. On my index finger I applied Maybelline Color Show Twilight Rays, a black with subtle gold glitter. To add some more sparkle I used a clear polish with a mix of bronze, black and gold hexes, Sephora by OPI Come To Pappa-Razzi! over the black polish. I also used a single gold hex from this polish at the base of each of the orange nails. I added a thin black line to the sides of each orange nail with a Sinful Colors black striper. You could outline the top and bottom as well, but I chose to keep it as the simple pinstripes. For the lace spiderweb, I used white acrylic paint and a small paintbrush. I started with a semi-thick semi circle and painted four lines coming towards the tip of the nail. I connected all these lines with little lines and sealed in the design with a top coat.

The China Glaze Nail Lacquer in Shore Enuff is a bright medium-light green with a cream finish. It's not quite a neon, but it has the semi-matte finish of one. The polish also had a very quick dry time, similar to many neon colors. It was a bit sheer, but it applied evenly to the nails. In my opinion, this color looks much prettier in the bottle and even in the swatch pictures than it does in real life. On my nails, Shore Enuff looks like a true grass green and it's just not very flattering. I applied three coats of Shore Enuff to all the nails and applied a shiny top coat over the ring finger.

I am a big baseball fan and have been a huge Royals fan my whole life. So, since they are now going to the World Series for the first time since 1985 I had to do some Royals nail art! (Sorry Giants fans)

For the base of the nails I used three different colors. For the index finger I used a white, OPI Alpine Snow. On the ring finger I used a green, Revlon Posh. On my middle finger and pinky I used a royal blue, Sally Hansen Insta Dri In Prompt Blue. On the green nail I free handed a baseball diamond using Zoya Flynn. I filled in the middle with the same green polish and for the bases I used a white hex from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Beach Ball. On the white nail I used a red nail art polish to paint the baseball stitching. On my pinky nail I painted the top of the Royals crown with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Golden-I. I painted almost half way up the nail and used a dotting tool to create the shape of the crown. Lastly was the KC nail, which is in the Royals logo. I very carefully drew the logo with Alpine Snow and a small paintbrush. I sealed in all the nails with the Out The Door top coat. Let's go Royals!

The Zoya Nail Lacquer in Chantal is a warm nude with a creme finish. Chantal is from Zoya's Naturel collection. It is quite similar in color to my NW20 skin tone, making it a great "mannequin hands" polish for me. Chantal has a great, easy to apply formula and was fully opaque in two coats.

The China Glaze Nail Lacquer in Five Rules is a warm light grey with a creme finish. The color reminds me of putty or wet cement, and is a good alternative to a typical cool toned grey. Five Rules is available now in the limited edition The Giver collection. Five Rules' formula was slightly thin and needed two coats to achieve full opacity. It dried fairly quickly and gave my nails a smooth appearance.

The Formula X for Sephora Effect Top Coat in Demolition is a mixture of blue, light green, light pink and white hexes in a clear base coat. In the swatch pictures I used two coats over the bare nails and one coat over the black and white nail. The clear base wasn't too thick or too thin and the brush coated the nails pretty evenly with the hexes. Demolition does not leave the nails feeling bumpy or gritty.

The Essie Nail Lacquer in Mint Candy Apple is a bright pale blue. Although "mint" is in the name, it really doesn't have any green in it, it's pretty much a true blue. I did swatch this polish about a year ago, but looking back at it, I don't like how it looks, so I wanted to post new swatches. Mint Candy Apple has a nice formula, like the other Essie colors I have tried. I used two coats of Mint Candy Apples in the pictures.